President Mustafa Akinci has said that the issues of territory, security and guarantees will be discussed for the first time in the ongoing Cyprus negotiations, when he meets with President Anastasiades on Friday 29th July.
Speaking to journalists after his meeting with President Anastasiades, Akinci noted however, that maps, percentages and names of places will not come onto the agenda. He said that these issues will be discussed in an interdependent manner according to the provisions of the joint declaration of 11th February 2014.
Akinci said that further common understandings were achieved between himself and President Anastasiades, adding that if the same fruitful work continues during the second half of August, the target of finding a solution by the end of 2016 could be achieved.
Asked to comment on a statement made by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yiildirim that this is the last chance to find a solution in Cyprus, Akinci reiterated that President Anastasiades and he are leaders who belong to the same generation and expressed the belief that this is the last chance for their generation to find a solution. He added, inter alia, the following:
“Hundreds of people are very intensively working during this period of the Cyprus negotiations. A lot of material which could lead us to a result has been accumulated. Twelve years have passed since the Annan Plan. Such a process cost twelve years. If it does not happen now in an environment in which so much labour has been carried out, what other name could we put to it except for ‘last chance’? Within this framework, the statements by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim regarding a last chance for the solution are not a threat, but an expression of reality”.
Replying to a question on border crossings, Akinci expressed his regret for the lack of take up for the tenders invited by the UNDP for works to open the Derynia and Aplic crossings. He added that according to some information the tenders were extended for three days upon a demand submitted by the building contractors, but no proposals were received for Aplic and only one high cost proposal was submitted for Derynia.
Akinci noted that the UN will invite tenders again and that he had given instructions to discover the reason for the delay. He argued that, just as in the cross-border connection of electricity and mobile phone networks, there is nothing which the Turkish Cypriot side should have done and did not do it. He said that they should meet with UNDP officials in order to speed up the process.
Ortam
